Dorchester
—  Neighborhood of Boston  —
Neponset River at Lower Mills in Dorchester (2009)
Seal
Nickname(s): Dot
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Suffolk
Neighborhood of	Boston
Settled	May 1630
Incorporated	June 1, 1630
Annexed by Boston	January 4, 1870 [1]
Population (2010)[2]
• Total	91,982 or 134,000
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
Zip Codes	02121, 02122, 02124, 02125
Area code(s)	617 / 857

Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States.^[3] It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated^[4] and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents.^[5] Dorchester, including a large portion of today's Boston, was separately incorporated in 1630.^[6] It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when annexed to Boston in 1870. Railroad and streetcar lines brought rapid growth, increasing the population to 150,000 by 1920. It is now a large working class community with many African Americans, European Americans (and is still a center of Irish American immigration), Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and East and Southeast Asian Americans. Recently, there has been an influx of young professionals, gays and lesbians, and working artists to the neighborhood, adding to its diversity.^{[7][8][9][10]}

History[link]

Settlement and Incorporation[link]

May 30, 1630, Captain Squib of the ship Mary and John entered Boston Harbor and on June 17, 1630 landed a boat with eight men on the Dorchester shore, at what was then a narrow peninsula known as Mattapan or Mattaponnock, and today is known as Columbia Point (more popularly since 1984 as Harbor Point).^[11] Those aboard the ship who founded the town included William Phelps, Roger Ludlowe, John Mason, Samuel Maverick, Nicholas Upsall, Henry Wolcott and other men who would become prominent in the founding of a new nation. The original settlement founded in 1630 was at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and Massachusetts Avenue. (Even though Dorchester was annexed over 100 years ago into the city of Boston, this founding is still celebrated every year on Dorchester Day, which includes festivities and a parade down Dorchester Avenue).

Dorchester looking north toward Boston, c. 1781

Most of the early Dorchester settlers came from the West Country of England, and some from Dorchester, Dorset, where the Rev. John White was chief proponent of a Puritan settlement in the New World.^[12] (Rev. John White has been referred to as the unheralded champion of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, because despite his heroic efforts on its behalf, he remained in England and never emigrated to the Colony he championed.) The town that was founded was centered around the First Parish Church of Dorchester, which still exists as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meetinghouse Hill and is the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston.

On October 8, 1633 the first Town Meeting in America was held in Dorchester. Today, each October 8 is celebrated as Town Meeting Day in Massachusetts. Dorchester is the birthplace of the first public elementary school in America, the Mather School, established in 1639.^[13] The school still stands as the oldest elementary school in America.^[14]

In 1695, a party was dispatched to found the town of Dorchester, South Carolina, which would last barely a half-century before being abandoned.

Early history[link]

Baker's Cocoa Advertisement in Overland Monthly, January 1919. The manufacture of chocolate had been introduced in the United States in 1765 by John Hannon and Dr. James Baker in Dorchester. Walter Baker & Company was located in Dorchester.

In 1765, chocolate was first introduced in the United States when Irish chocolate maker John Hannon (or alternatively spelled "Hannan" in some sources) imported beans from the West Indies and refined them in Dorchester, working with Dr. James Baker, an American physician and investor. They soon after opened America's first chocolate mill and factory in the Lower Mills section of Dorchester. The Walter Baker Chocolate Factory, part of Walter Baker & Company, operated until 1965.^{[15]:627[16][17][18]}

Before the American Revolution, "The Sons of Liberty met in August 1769 at the Lemuel Robinson Tavern, which stood on the east side of the upper road (Washington St.) near the present Fuller Street. Lemuel Robinson was a representative of the town during the Revolution and was appointed a colonel in the Revolutionary army."^[19] Dorchester (in a part of what is now South Boston) was also the site of the Battle of Dorchester Heights in 1776, which eventually resulted in the British evacuating Boston.

Victorian era[link]

One of Dorchester's most influential residents, Lucy Stone was an early advocate for women's rights

In Victorian times, Dorchester became a popular country retreat for Boston elite, and developed into a bedroom community, easily accessible to the city—a streetcar suburb. The mother and grandparents of John F. Kennedy lived in the Ashmont Hill neighborhood while John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald was mayor of Boston.

The American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote a poem called "The Dorchester Giant" in 1830, and referred to the special kind of stone, "Roxbury puddingstone", also quarried in Dorchester, which was used to build churches in the Boston area, most notably the Central Congregational Church (later called the Church of the Covenant) in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood.^[20][21]:116

In 1845, the Old Colony Railroad ran through the area and connected Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts. The station was originally called Crescent Avenue or Crescent Avenue Depot^[22] as an Old Colony Railroad station, then called Columbia until December 1, 1982, and then again changed to JFK/UMASS. It is an MBTA rail line station for both the subway and commuter rail line.

Two people play tennis in Franklin Park, 1906.

In the 1880s, the calf pasture on Columbia Point was used as a Boston sewer line and pumping station. This large pumping station still stands and in its time was a model for treating sewage and helping to promote cleaner and healthier urban living conditions. It pumped waste to a remote treatment facility on Moon Island in Boston Harbor, and served as a model for other systems worldwide. This system remained in active use and was the Boston Sewer system's headworks, handling all of the city's sewage, until 1968 when a new treatment facility was built on Deer Island. The pumping station is also architecturally significant as a Richardsonian Romanesque designed by the then Boston city architect, George Clough. It is also the only remaining 19th century building on Columbia Point and is in the National Register of Historic Places.^[11]

Annexation to Boston[link]

Map of Dorchester, Massachusetts and surrounding area from the H. F. Walling Map of the County of Norfolk, Massachusetts, 1858.

Dorchester was annexed by Boston in pieces beginning on March 6, 1804 and ending with complete annexation to the city of Boston after a plebiscite was held in Boston and Dorchester on June 22, 1869. As a result, Dorchester officially became part of Boston on January 3, 1870.^[23] This is also the historic reason that Dorchester Heights is today considered part of South Boston, not modern-day Dorchester, since it was part of the cession of Dorchester to Boston in 1804. Additional parts of Dorchester were ceded to Quincy (in 1792, 1814, 1819, and 1855) and portions of the original town of Dorchester became the separate towns of Hyde Park (1868 and later annexed to Boston in 1912), Milton (1662), and Stoughton (1726).

In 1895, Frederick Law Olmstead architect of the Boston Public Garden/Emerald Necklace and Central Park was commissioned to create Dorchester Park, to be an urban forest for the residents of a growing Dorchester.^[24]

In 1904, the Dorchester Historical Society incorporated "Dorchester Day" which commemorated the settlement of Dorchester in 1630. An annual event, Dorchester Day is a tableau of community events, highlighted by such activities as the Landing Day Observance, the Dorchester Day Parade along Dorchester Avenue the first Sunday in June, and as a grand finale, the Community Banquet.^[25]

Map showing all ground in Boston occupied by buildings in 1880 just after Dorchester was annexed to Boston in 1870. Dorchester is in the lower left quadrant. From U.S. Census Bureau.

Turn of the 20th Century[link]

There was also increased social activism in Dorchester during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dorchester became home to the first racially integrated neighborhood on Jones Hill. One of the residents of that neighborhood, William Monroe Trotter, with W.E.B. DuBois, helped to found the Niagara Movement, the precursor of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.^[26] Many leading suffragettes also lived in Dorchester, including Lucy Stone.^[27]

In the early 20th century, Dorchester also saw a large flux of new immigrants from origins such as Ireland, French Canada, Poland, Italy, and migrant African Americans from the south. This is the era when the trademark Dorchester triple decker apartment buildings were built.

Modern history[link]

In the early 1950s, Dorchester was also a center of civil rights activism. Martin Luther King, Jr. lived there for much of the time he attended Boston University for his PhD. "With Boston’s Baptist community riveted by his preaching and Coretta [Scott King] at his side, King’s circle grew. The Dorchester apartment drew friends and followers like a magnet, according to [friend and roommate John] Bustamante, with 'untold numbers of visitors coming from the other schools.' The roommates housed and fed the visitors, who would join in civil rights discussions."^[28]

During the 1950s-1980s, the ethnic landscape of Dorchester changed dramatically. Up until the 1950s, the Blue Hill Avenue part of Dorchester from Roxbury to Mattapan was primarily composed of Jewish Americans who had lived there for generations. The Neponset neighborhood was primarily Irish-American. During the 1950s-1960s, many African-Americans moved from the South to the North during the Great Migration and settled on Blue Hill Avenue and nearby sections. While some Jewish-Americans were moving "up and out" to the suburbs, certain Boston banks and real estate companies developed a blockbusting plan for the area. The Blue Hill Ave. area was "redlined" so that only the newly arriving African-Americans would receive mortgages for housing in that section.^[29] During this transition, the crime rate skyrocketed—murders and muggings became common. "White flight" was prevalent. By the 1980s, the Blue Hill Ave. section of Dorchester had become a predominately black community. Numerous burned out buildings existed on Blue Hill Ave.^{[citation needed]} During the 1990s, the city administration increased police presence and invested city money into the area for more street lighting, etc.^{[citation needed]}

Uphams Corner section of Dorchester showing the typical urban street-scape found in the neighborhood (2010)

In the last half of the 20th century, Dorchester had another wave of immigrants, this time from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, Cape Verde, as well as other Latin American, Asian, and African nations. While there was still a large number of new immigrants from traditional countries of origin, such as Ireland and Poland. This made Dorchester more diverse than at any point in its long history, and home to more people from more countries than ever before. These immigrants helped revive economically many areas of the neighborhood by opening ethnic stores and restaurants.^[30]

Notable events[link]

The first community health center in the United States was the Columbia Point Health Center in Dorchester. It was opened in December 1965 and served mostly the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it. It was founded by two medical doctors, Jack Geiger who had been on the faculty of Harvard University then later at Tufts University and Count Gibson from Tufts University.^[31][32][33] Geiger had previously studied the first community health centers and the principles of Community Oriented Primary Care with Sidney Kark ^[34] and colleagues while serving as a medical student in rural Natal, South Africa.^[35] The Columbia Point Health Center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center.^[36][37][38]

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on the Columbia Point peninsula (2007)

In 1977, after an unsuccessful bid to have the John F. Kennedy Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts close to Harvard University, ground was broken at the tip of Columbia Point for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, designed by the architect I. M. Pei, and dedicated on October 20, 1979.

The oldest surviving home in the city of Boston, the James Blake House, is located at Edward Everett Square, which is the historic intersection of Columbia Road, Boston Street, and Massachusetts Avenue, a few blocks from the Dorchester Historical Society. The Blake House was constructed in 1661, as was confirmed by dendrochronology in 2007.

A number of the earliest streets in Dorchester have changed names several times through the centuries, meaning that some names have come and gone. Leavitt Place, for instance, named for one of Dorchester's earliest settlers, eventually became Brook Court and then Brook Avenue Place.^[39] Gallivan Boulevard was once Codman Street and Brookvale Street was once Brook Street.^[40] Morrissey Boulevard was once Old Colony Parkway.

Geography[link]

Dorchester is located south of downtown Boston and is surrounded by the neighborhoods of South Boston, Roxbury, Mattapan, South End, and the city of Quincy and town of Milton. The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. According to the US Postal Service, Dorchester includes the zip codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125.

Neighborhood sections and squares[link]

Map showing the locations of Dorchester sections and squares

Dorchester is Boston's largest and most populous neighborhood^[41] and comprises many smaller sections and squares. Due to its size of about six square miles, it is often divided for statistical purposes in North and South Dorchester. North Dorchester includes the portion north of Quincy Street, East Street and Freeport Street. The main business district in this part of Dorchester is Uphams Corner, at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road. South Dorchester is bordered to the east by Dorchester Bay and to the south by the Neponset River.^[42] The main business districts in this part of Dorchester are Fields Corner, at the intersection of Dorchester Avenue and Adams Street, and Codman Square, at the intersection of Washington Street and Talbot Avenue.

Dorchester Avenue is the major neighborhood spine, running in a south-north line through all of Dorchester from Lower Mills to downtown Boston.^[43] The southern part of Dorchester is primarily a residential area, with established neighborhoods still defined by parishes, and occupied by families for generations. The northern part of Dorchester is more urban, with a greater amount of apartment housing and industrial parks. South Bay Center and Newmarket industrial area are major sources of employment and the Harbor Point area (formerly known as Columbia Point) is home of several large employers, including the Boston campus of the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Archives, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. However, the entire neighborhood continues to change, as can be observed in the recent growth of its distinct commercial districts: Bowdoin/Geneva, Fields Corner, Codman Square, Peabody Square, Adams Village and Lower Mills. While some sections remain primarily residential: Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill, Ashmont, Meeting House Hill, Neponset, Popes Hill and Port Norfolk.

The sections of Dorchester have distinct ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic compositions. The eastern areas of Dorchester (especially between Adams Street and Dorchester Bay) are primarily ethnic European and Asian, with a large population of Irish Americans and Vietnamese Americans, while the residents of the western, central and parts of the southern sections of the neighborhood are predominantly African Americans. In Neponset, the southeast corner of the neighborhood, as well as parts of Savin Hill in the north and Cedar Grove in the south, Irish Americans maintain the most visible identity.^[44] In the northern section of Dorchester and southwestern section of South Boston is the Polish Triangle, where recent Polish immigrants are residents. Savin Hill, as well as Fields Corner, have large Vietnamese American populations. Uphams Corner contains a Cape Verdean American community, the largest concentration of people of Cape Verdean origin within Boston city limits. Western, central and parts of southern Dorchester have a large Caribbean population (especially people from Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago). They are most heavily represented in the Codman Square, Franklin Field and the Ashmont area, although there are also significant numbers in Four Corners and Fields Corner. Significant numbers of African Americans live in the Harbor Point, Uphams Corner, Fields Corner, Four Corners and Franklin Field areas.^[45] In recent years Dorchester has also seen an influx of young residents, gay men and women, and working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Ashmont Hill/Peabody Square, and Savin Hill).^{[7][9][10][46][47]}

Demographics[link]

As of 2000 the population of Dorchester was 92,115 and the ethnic makeup was 36% African American or Black, 32% White non-Hispanic, 12% Hispanic or Latino, 11% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1% Native American, 4% some other race, 5% two or more races.^[48]

Transportation[link]

The red line MBTA platform at the JFK/UMass station (2007)

The neighborhood is served by five stations on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line (MBTA) rapid transit service, five stations on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, commuter rail lines, and various bus routes. Over the last decade, the Dorchester branch of the red line had major renovations, including four rapid transit stations being rebuilt at Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont.^[49][50] At Ashmont station, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts partnered with private investors to create The Carruth, one of the state's first Transit-oriented developments (TOD).^[50][51]

Interstate 93 (which is also Route 3 and U.S. 1) runs north-south through Dorchester between Quincy, Massachusetts and downtown Boston, providing access to the eastern edge of Dorchester at Columbia Road, Morrissey Boulevard (northbound only), Neponset Circle (southbound only), and Granite Avenue (with additional southbound on-ramps at Freeport Street and from Morrissey Blvd at Neponset). Several other state routes traverse the neighborhood, e.g., Route 203, Gallivan Boulevard and Morton Street, and Route 28, Blue Hill Avenue (so named because it leads out of the city to the Blue Hills Reservation). The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. The "Dorchester Turnpike" (now "Dorchester Avenue") stretches from Fort Point Channel (now in South Boston) to Lower Mills, and once boasted a horse-drawn streetcar.

Economy[link]

The headquarters of the Boston Globe is located on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester (2009)

Throughout its history, Dorchester has had periods of economic revival and recession. In the 1960s and 1970s, Dorchester was particularly hard hit by economic recession, high unemployment, and white flight.^[52]

In 1953, Carney Hospital moved from South Boston to its current location in Dorchester, serving the local communities of Dorchester, Mattapan, Milton and Quincy.

In 1953, a major public housing project was completed on the Columbia Point peninsula of Dorchester. There were 1,502 units in the development on 50 acres (200,000 m²) of land. It was later known for high rates of crime and poor living conditions, and it went through particularly bad times in the 1970s and 80s. By 1988, there were only 350 families living there. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of it to a private developer, Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison, who redeveloped the property into a residential mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments which was opened in 1988 and completed by 1990. It was the first federal housing project to be converted to private, mixed-income housing in the USA. Harbor Point has won much acclaim for this transformation, including awards from the Urban Land Institute, the FIABCI Award for International Excellence, and the Rudy Bruner Award.^[53][54][55]

During the housing crisis of 2008 in the United States, Dorchester's Hendry Street became the epicenter in the media^[56] In reaction, the city of Boston negotiated to buy several of the houses for as little as $30,000. It is moving to seize other foreclosed properties on which the owners have not paid taxes. The houses were renovated and added to the inventory of subsidized rental housing.^[57]

In 2008, plans and proposals were unveiled and presented to public community hearings by the Corcoran-Jennison Company to redevelop the 30-acre (120,000 m²) Bayside Exposition Center site on the Columbia Point peninsula into a mixed use village of storefronts and residences, called "Bayside on the Point".^{[58][59][60][61]} However, in 2009, the Bayside Expo Center property was lost in a foreclosure on Corcoran-Jennison to a Florida-based real estate firm, LNR/CMAT, who bought it. Soon after, the University of Massachusetts Boston bought the property from them to build future campus facilities.^[62][63]

The corporate headquarters of the Boston Globe is also located in Dorchester. In 2009, the New York Times, current owner, put the paper up for bid, leading to concern from local community members, who had seen other major employers close their doors.^[64] After negotiations with their union and cost reduction measures, the New York Times abandoned its plan to sell the Boston Globe in October 2009.^[65]

In the 20th century, many of the labor unions in Boston relocated their headquarters to Dorchester. This includes the Boston Teachers Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, New England Regional Council of Carpenters, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, among others.

Crime[link]

Dorchester, with a population of 91,982 in 2010, accounted for 15% of the population of Boston and 44% of the murders in the city in 2010. In 2009 24 of the 50 murders in Boston were in Dorchester. The majority of all murders in Boston took place in one of three neighborhoods, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury, all of which border one another, in 2008.^[66]

Education[link]

Primary and secondary schools[link]

Public schools[link]

Students in Dorchester are served by Boston Public Schools (BPS). BPS assigns students based on preferences of the applicants and priorities of students in various zones.^[67]

Dorchester High School predated the annexation of Dorchester to Boston. At its founding, it was an all male school, first opened on December 10, 1852. In 1870 Dorchester was annexed to Boston and its schools became managed by the City of Boston. A replacement facility opened in Codman Square on Talbot Avenue 1901. The current Dorchester facility opened in 1925 on Peacevale Road to males, while the Talbot Avenue building was for females. In 1953 Dorchester High School consolidated as a coeducational school.^[68]

Today, Dorchester houses many of the city's high schools. Dorchester Education Complex (formerly Dorchester High School) is in Dorchester.^[69] The schools within the Dorchester complex include the Academy of Public Service,^[70] the Edward G. Noonan Business Academy,^[71] and TechBoston Academy.^[72] In September 2009 the Academy of Public Service and the Noonan Business Academy will merge into the Edward G. Noonan Academy for Business, Public Service and Law.^[70] Boston Latin Academy, a 7-12 secondary school and one of the city's three exam schools,^[73] and Jeremiah E. Burke High School, a high school, are also located in Dorchester.^[74]

Other schools:

• Boston Collegiate Charter School, grades 5-12
• Codman Academy Charter Public School, 9-12
• Paul A. Dever Elementary School, K-5
• Edward Everett Elementary School, K1-5
• Lilla Frederick Pilot Middle School, 6-8
• The Harbor School, 6-8
• Dr. William H. Henderson Inclusion Elementary School (formerly Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School), K-5
• Thomas J. Kenney Elementary School, K-5
• The Mather Elementary School, Pre School-5
• John W. McCormack School, 6-8
• Richard J. Murphy Elementary School, K1-8
• Neighborhood Charter School, K-8
• William E. Russell Elementary, K1-5
• Smith Leadership Academy Charter School, 5-8
• Lucy Stone School, K-5
• TechBoston Lower Academy (formerly Woodrow Wilson Middle School), 6-9
• Uphams Corner Charter School, 5-8

Parochial schools[link]

Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston operates the Columbia Campus,^[75] the Dorchester Central Campus,^[76] the Lower Mills Campus,^[77] and the Neponset Campus.^[78]

Other parochial schools include:

• Boston College High School, 7-12
• Cristo Rey High School Boston, 9-12 (old St. William Elementary building – St. Margaret Elementary merged into St. William's building as the first camus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy. John Paul II moved buildings and Christo Rey purchased St. William building)
• Elizabeth Seton Academy, 9-12
• St. Ambrose School - closed, K-8
• St. Angela School - (In 2008, closed and reopened as the Mattapan Square Campus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy)^[79]
• St. Ann Elementary School, K-8 (In 2008, closed and reopened as the Neponset Campus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy)^[79]
• St. Brendan School, K-8
• St. Gregory Elementary School, K-8 (In 2008, closed and reopened as the Lower Mills Campus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy)^[79]
• St. Kevin School, K-8 (closed in 2008 ^[80])
• St. Margaret Elementary School, K-8 (Closed and reopened as the Columbia Campus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy)^[79]
• St. Mark School, K-8(In 2008, closed and reopened as the Dorchester Central Campus of Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy)^[79]
• St. Matthew School, K-8
• St. Peter Elementary School, K-8 (closed in 2008 ^[81])
• St. William School

Colleges and universities[link]

• The University of Massachusetts Boston is an urban public research university and the second largest campus in the University of Massachusetts Amherst system. It is located on Columbia Point in Dorchester.
• Labouré College is a Roman Catholic co-educational college offering associate degrees in nursing and the health sciences. It is located on the Carney Hospital campus near the Lower Mills section of Dorchester.

Public libraries[link]

Boston Public Library operates six neighborhood branches in Dorchester.^[82]

• Adams Street Branch
• Codman Square Branch - Originally opened at 6 Norfolk Street in 1905 and was named after a preacher named John Codman. The branch moved into its current facility, which was designed by Eco-Texture, Inc., in 1978.^[83]
• Fields Corner Branch
• Grove Hall Branch
• Lower Mills Branch
• Uphams Corner Branch

Sites of interest[link]

• Bayside Expo & Conference Center (sold to University of Massachusetts Boston in 2010 for future redevelopment)
• James Blake House
• Captain Lemuel Clap House
• William Clapp House
• First Parish Church of Dorchester
• Franklin Park Zoo
• John F. Kennedy Library and Museum
• Neponset River State Reservation
• Commonwealth Museum
• William Monroe Trotter House
• University of Massachusetts Amherst Harbor Campus
• Massachusetts State Archives
• Boston Globe
• Pope John Paul Park
• Baker Chocolate Mill site

Notable residents[link]

• Charles Baker Adams - Born in Dorchester, noted academic and naturalist^[84]
• William Taylor Adams - Wrote fiction under the pseudonym "Oliver Optic" and served on the School Board of Dorchester.^[84]
• Sheldon Adelson - Born and raised in Dorchester, now a casino and hotel magnate. Chairman & CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
• Samuel Turell Armstrong - Born in Dorchester, Governor of Massachusetts ^[84]
• Robert Bergenheim - Raised in Dorchester, founder of the Boston Business Journal^[85]
• Ray Bolger - Vaudevillian and film actor, best known as the Scarecrow in the 1939 movie, "The Wizard of Oz"
• Jean Buckley - Born in Dorchester, former All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
• James "Whitey" Bulger - former crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang
• William M. Bulger - Massachusetts politician, former President of the Massachusetts Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts.
• Herb Chambers - owner and CEO of Herb Chambers Companies, a group of more than 45 car dealerships in Massachusetts
• Joe Conforte - owner of the Mustang Ranch in Nevada
• Clarence Cook - Born in Dorchester. 19th century art critic and writer.^[86]
• Norm Crosby - Entertainer^[87]
• Thomas M. Finneran - Former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 2007, pled guilty to obstruction of justice charges (felony).
• Elliott Francis - Television/Radio news journalist.
• Kay Hanley - American alternative rock musician. She is best known as the vocalist for the band Letters to Cleo.
• Chrystal Herne - Broadway actress
• Joseph P. Kennedy - prominent American businessman and political figure.
• Rose Kennedy - the mother of President John F. Kennedy.
• John King - is an American journalist
• Martin Luther King, Jr. - is an American civil rights leader and lived in Dorchester while attending Boston University.^[28]
• Jonathan Knight - American singer, best known for membership in the New Kids on the Block
• Jordan Knight - American singer, best known for membership in the New Kids on the Block
• Calixa Lavallée - Canadian national anthem's composer, also wrote offertorium^{[disambiguation needed ]} for the dedication of St. Peter's of Dorchester (1883)^[88][89]
• Dennis Lehane - American Author of Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and the Given Day
• Bill Marshall, baseball player
• Increase Mather - was a major figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Aaron Maund - professional soccer player currently playing for Toronto F.C.
• Leonard Nimoy - is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. He played the character of Spock on Star Trek.
• Lawrence O'Donnell - former aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, producer of "The West Wing" and host of MSNBC's "The Last Word"
• Omega Red - is an American rapper, musician and actor.
• Lucy Stone - was a prominent American abolitionist and suffragist.
• Donna Summer - American pop and disco singer.
• Donnie Wahlberg - is an American singer, actor and film producer, best known for membership in the New Kids on the Block
• Mark Wahlberg - is an Academy Award-nominated American actor.
• Adam Myerson - Professional Cyclist. 1997 USA Cycling Collegiate National Cyclo-cross Champion. He currently rides for Team Mountain Khakis/SmartStop based in Winston-Salem, NC.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Committee of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society, "History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts", Boston : Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., 1859.
• Dutton, E.P. Chart of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay with Map of Adjacent Country. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Dorchester. Note the Horse RailRoad on Dorchester Ave.
• Glover, Anna. Glover Memorials and Genealogies: An Account of John Glover Of Dorchester and Some of his Descendants. Published 1867.
• Orcutt, William Dana. Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative History of the Town, 1630-1893. Published 1893.
• Sammarco, Anthony Mitchell.
  • "Dorchester", Images of America series, Dover, N.H. : Arcadia Publishing, 1995. ISBN 0-7524-0228-5
  • "Dorchester: Volume II", Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2000
  • "Dorchester: Then & Now", Arcadia Publishing, 2005.
• Seasholes, Nancy S. (2003). Gaining ground : a history of landmaking in Boston. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-19494-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=GAHs1C9q1EsC&pg=PP1&dq=nancy+seasholes. 
• The Vital Records of Dorchester (Births, Marriages, and Deaths) to 1825 were published in 1890 as the 21st Report of the Records Commissioners of Boston.
• Old USGS Maps of Boston and Dorchester area. See the 1903 southeaster corner map.

Further reading[link]

• "Railroad Transportation in Dorchester" - History by the Dorchester Atheneum
• Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1790 Federal Head of Household Census, Dorchester, Massachusetts, US Census data
• "Dorchester Epitaphs: from Epitaphs First Burying-Place in Dorchester", (not in Dorchester town records), From the back of the book of Dorchester Vital Records to 1850
• "Historical Sketch of Dorchester", Mercantile Publishing Company, Boston, 1888
• Orcutt, William Dana, Good Old Dorchester: A Narrative history of the Town 1630 - 1893, Cambridge : John Wilson & Son, University Press, 1893

External links[link]

Boston portal

Find more about Dorchester, Boston on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• from the Boston Public Library Map Collection
  • 1831 Map of Dorchester by Edmund J. Baker
  • 1850 Map of Dorchester by E. Whiting
  • 1868 Map of Dorchester and Quincy by Dudley and Greenough
  • 1880 Plan of Dorchester by the Boston Engineering Dept.
• Battle of Dorchester Heights in DotNews
• Dorchester Community Website
• History of Dorchester in DotNews
• Dorchester Historical Society
• Colonel Daniel Marr Boys and Girls Club
• Uphams Corner Charter School
• First Parish Church in Dorchester
• Caritas Carney Hospital
• Dorchester Atheneum - Dorchester history
• Map of Dorchester section of Boston - Open Space Plan, City of Boston
• Dorchester maps by City of Boston
• Dorchester Community Website
• Dorchester Your Town site
• The La Alianza Hispana records, 1960-1999 (bulk 1975-1995) are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA.
• My Dot Tour, an open-source, "multimedia, youth-led walking tour of Fields Corner." It is "a project of the Fields Corner Collaborative."

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Coordinates: 42°19′N 71°3′W / 42.317°N 71.05°W / 42.317; -71.05

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Bay State, The Old Colony, The Codfish State[1]
Motto(s): Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (Latin)
Official language(s)	None
Demonym	Bay Stater (official)[2] Massachusite (traditional)[3][4] Massachusettsian (archaic)[5]
Capital (and largest city)	Boston
Largest metro area	Greater Boston
Area	Ranked 44th in the U.S.
- Total	10,555[6] sq mi (27,336 km2)
- Width	183 miles (295 km)
- Length	113 miles (182 km)
- % water	25.7
- Latitude	41° 14′ N to 42° 53′ N
- Longitude	69° 56′ W to 73° 30′ W
Population	Ranked 14th in the U.S.
- Total	6,587,536 (2011 est)[7]
- Density	840/sq mi  (324/km2) Ranked 3rd in the U.S.
- Median household income	$65,401 (2008) (6th)
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Greylock[8][9][10] 3,489 ft (1063.4 m)
- Mean	500 ft  (150 m)
- Lowest point	Atlantic Ocean[9] sea level
Before statehood	Province of Massachusetts Bay
Admission to Union	February 6, 1788 (6th)
Governor	Deval Patrick (D)
Lieutenant Governor	Tim Murray (D)
Legislature	General Court
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Representatives
U.S. Senators	John Kerry (D) Scott Brown (R)
U.S. House delegation	10 Democrats (list)
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Abbreviations	MA Mass. US-MA
Website	www.mass.gov

Massachusetts State symbols
Animate insignia
Bird(s)	Black-capped Chickadee, Wild Turkey
Fish	Cod
Flower(s)	Mayflower
Insect	Ladybug
Mammal(s)	Right whale, Morgan horse, Tabby cat, Boston Terrier
Reptile	Garter snake
Tree	American Elm
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Cranberry Juice
Colors	Blue, Green, Cranberry
Dance	Square Dance
Food	Cranberry, Corn muffin, Navy bean, Boston cream pie, Chocolate chip cookie, Boston cream donut
Fossil	Mastodon
Gemstone	Rhodonite
Mineral	Babingtonite
Poem	"Blue Hills of Massachusetts"
Rock	Roxbury Puddingstone
Shell	Wrinkled Whelk
Ship(s)	Schooner Ernestina
Slogan(s)	Make It Yours, The Spirit of America
Soil	Paxton
Song(s)	All Hail to Massachusetts
Sport	Basketball[11]
Route marker(s)
State Quarter
Released in 2000
Lists of United States state insignia

Massachusetts (ⁱ/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.

Massachusetts has played a significant historical, cultural, and commercial role in American history. Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the Mayflower. Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. In 1692, the towns surrounding Salem experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem Witch Trials. In the 18th century, the Protestant First Great Awakening, which swept the Atlantic world, originated from the pulpit of Northampton, Massachusetts preacher Jonathan Edwards. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution and the independence of the United States from Great Britain. In 1777, General Henry Knox founded the Springfield Armory, which during the Industrial Revolution catalyzed numerous important technological advances, including interchangeable parts. In 1786, Shays' Rebellion, a populist revolt by Western Massachusetts farmers, led directly to the United States Constitutional Convention. Before the American Civil War, Massachusetts was a center for the temperance, transcendentalist, and abolitionist movements. In 1837, Mount Holyoke College, the United States' first college for women, was opened in the Connecticut River Valley town of South Hadley. In the late 19th century, the (now) Olympic sports of basketball and volleyball were invented in the Western Massachusetts cities of Springfield and Holyoke, respectively. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage as a result of the decision of the state's Supreme Judicial Court. The state has contributed many prominent politicians to national service, including members of the Adams family and of the Kennedy family.

Originally dependent on fishing, agriculture, and trade, Massachusetts was transformed into a manufacturing center during the Industrial Revolution. During the 20th century, the state's economy shifted from manufacturing to services. In the 21st century, Massachusetts is a leader in higher education, health care technology, high technology, and financial services.

Name[link]

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was named after the indigenous population, the Massachusett, whose name can be segmented as mass-adchu-s-et, where mass- is "large", -adchu- is "hill", -s- is a diminutive suffix meaning "small", and -et is a locative suffix, identifying a place. It has been translated as "near the great hill",^[12] "by the blue hills", "at the little big hill", or "at the range of hills", referring to the Blue Hills, or in particular, Great Blue Hill, located on the boundary of Milton and Canton.^[13][14] Alternatively, Massachusett has been represented as Moswetuset, from the name of the Moswetuset Hummock (meaning "hill shaped like an arrowhead") in Quincy where Plymouth Colony commander Miles Standish and Squanto, a Native American, met Chief Chickatawbut in 1621.^[15][16]

Prominent roads and cities in Massachusetts.

The official name of the state is the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts".^[17] Colloquially, it is often referred to simply as "the Commonwealth". While this designation is part of the state's official name, it has no practical implications. Massachusetts has the same position and powers within the United States as other states.^[18]

Geography[link]

Massachusetts is the 7th smallest state in the United States. It is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States, and has an area of 10,555 square miles (27,340 km²).^[6] Several large bays distinctly shape its coast. Boston is the largest city, at the inmost point of Massachusetts Bay, the mouth of the Charles River, which is the longest river entirely within Massachusetts. The state extends from the mountains of the Appalachian system in the west to the sandy beaches and rocky shorelines of the Atlantic coast.

The National Park Service administers a number of natural and historical sites in Massachusetts.^[19] Along with twelve national historic sites, areas, and corridors, the National Park Service also manages the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.^[19] In addition, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation maintains a number of parks, trails, and beaches throughout the commonwealth.^[20][21][22]

Ecology[link]

The primary biome of inland Massachusetts is temperate deciduous forest.^[23] Although much of the state had been cleared for agriculture, leaving only traces of old growth forest in isolated pockets, secondary growth has regenerated in many rural areas as farms have been abandoned.^[24] Currently, forests cover around 62% of Massachusetts.^[25][26] The areas most affected by human development include the Greater Boston area in the east, the smaller Springfield metropolitan area in the west, and the largely agricultural Pioneer Valley.^[27] Animals that have become locally extinct over the past few centuries include gray wolves, elk, wolverines, and mountain lions.^[28]

Many coastal areas in Massachusetts provide breeding areas for species such as the Piping Plover.

A number of species are doing well despite (and in some cases because of) the increased urbanization of the commonwealth. Peregrine falcons utilize office towers in larger cities as nesting areas,^[29] and the population of coyotes, whose diet may include garbage and roadkill, has been increasing in recent decades.^[30] White-tailed deer, raccoons, wild turkeys and eastern gray squirrels are also found throughout Massachusetts.^[28][31] In more rural areas in the western part of the state, larger mammals such as moose and black bears have returned, largely due to reforestation following the regional decline in agriculture.^[32][33]

Massachusetts is located along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migratory waterfowl along the Atlantic coast.^[34] Lakes in central Massachusetts provide habitat for the common loon,^[35] while a significant population of long-tailed ducks winter off Nantucket.^[36] Small offshore islands and beaches are home to roseate terns and are important breeding areas for the locally threatened piping plover.^[37][38] Protected areas such as the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge provide critical breeding habitat for shorebirds and a variety of marine wildlife including a large population of gray seals.^[39]

Freshwater fish species in the commonwealth include bass, carp, catfish, and trout,^[40] while saltwater species such as Atlantic cod, haddock and American lobster populate offshore waters.^[41] Other marine species include Harbor seals, the endangered North Atlantic right whales, as well as humpback whales, fin whales, minke whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins.^[28]

History[link]

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882) The Pilgrims were a group of Puritans who founded Plymouth in 1620.

Early[link]

Massachusetts was originally inhabited by tribes of the Algonquian language family such as the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, Mahican, and Massachusett.^[42][43] While cultivation of crops like squash and corn supplemented their diets, these tribes were generally dependent on hunting, gathering and fishing for most of their food supply.^[42] Villages consisted of lodges called wigwams as well as long houses,^[43] and tribes were led by male or female elders known as sachems.^[44]

Colonial period[link]

In the early 1600s (after contact had been made with Europeans, but before permanent settlements were established), large numbers of the indigenous people in the northeast of what is now the United States were killed by virgin soil epidemics such as smallpox, measles, influenza, and perhaps leptospirosis.^[45] In 1617–1619, smallpox reportedly killed 90% of the Massachusetts Bay Native Americans.^[46]

The first English settlers in Massachusetts, the Pilgrims, established their settlement at Plymouth in 1620, and developed friendly relations with the native Wampanoag.^[47] This was the second successful permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. The Pilgrims were soon followed by Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony at present-day Boston in 1630.^[48] The Puritans, who believed the Church of England was too hierarchical (among other disagreements) came to Massachusetts for religious freedom,^[49] although, unlike the Plymouth colony, the bay colony was founded under a royal charter. Both religious dissent and expansionism resulted in several new colonies being founded shortly after Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay elsewhere in New England. Dissenters such as Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished due to religious disagreements; (Hutchinson held meetings in her home discussing flaws in the Puritan beliefs, while Williams believed that the Puritan beliefs were wrong, and the Indians must be respected.) In 1636, Williams founded the colony of Rhode Island and Hutchinson joined him there several years later.^[50]

In 1691, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth were united (along with present-day Maine, which had previously been divided between Massachusetts and New York) into the Province of Massachusetts Bay.^[51] Shortly after the arrival of the new province's first governor, Sir William Phips, the Salem witch trials took place, in which a number of men and women were hanged.^[52]

The most destructive earthquake yet known in New England occurred in 1755, causing considerable damage across the commonwealth.^[53]

Percy's Rescue at Lexington by Ralph Earl and Amos Doolittle from 1775, an illustration of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Massachusetts was a center of the movement for independence from Great Britain; colonists here had long had uneasy relations with the British monarchy, including open rebellion under the Dominion of New England in the 1680s.^[51] Protests against British attempts to tax the colonies after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 led to the Boston Massacre in 1770, and the 1773 Boston Tea Party escalated tensions to the breaking point.^[54] Anti-Parliamentary activity by men such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock, followed by reprisals by the British government, were a primary reason for the unity of the Thirteen Colonies and the outbreak of the American Revolution.^[55] The Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated the American Revolutionary War and were fought in the Massachusetts towns of Concord and Lexington.^[56] Future President George Washington took over what would become the Continental Army after the battle. His first victory was the Siege of Boston in the winter of 1775–6, after which the British were forced to evacuate the city.^[57] The event is still celebrated in Suffolk County as Evacuation Day.^[58]

Federal period[link]

Bostonian John Adams, known as the "Atlas of Independence", was an important figure in both the struggle for independence as well as the formation of the new United States.^[59] Adams was highly involved in the push for separation from Britain and the writing of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 (which, in the Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker cases, effectively made Massachusetts the first state to have a constitution that declared universal rights and, as interpreted by Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice William Cushing, abolished slavery).^[59][60] Later, Adams was active in early American foreign affairs and succeeded Washington as US President.^[59] His son, John Quincy Adams, would go on to become the sixth US President.^[59]

After independence and during the formative years of independent American government, Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in the western half of the state from 1786 to 1787. The rebels were mostly small farmers angered by crushing war debt and taxes. The rebellion was one of the major factors in the decision to draft a stronger national constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation.^[61] On February 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.^[62]

19th century[link]

In 1820, Maine separated from Massachusetts, of which it had been first a contiguous and then a non-contiguous part, and entered the Union as the 23rd state as a result of the ratification of the Missouri Compromise.^[63]

Textile mills such as the Boott Mills in Lowell made Massachusetts a leader in the US industrial revolution.

During the 19th century, Massachusetts became a national leader in the American Industrial Revolution, with factories around Boston producing textiles and shoes, and factories around Springfield producing precision manufacturing tools and paper.^[64][65] The economy transformed from one based primarily on agriculture to an industrial one, initially making use of waterpower and later the steam engine to power factories, and canals and later railroads for transporting goods and materials.^[66] At first, the new industries drew labor from Yankees on nearby subsistence farms, and later relied upon immigrant labor from Europe and Canada.^[67][68]

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Massachusetts was a center of social progressivism, Transcendentalism, and abolitionist activity. Horace Mann made the state system of schools the national model.^[69] Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson made major contributions to American thought.^[70] Members of the Transcendentalism movement, they emphasized the importance of the natural world and emotion to humanity.^[70] Although significant opposition to abolitionism existed early on in Massachusetts, resulting in anti-abolitionist riots between 1835 and 1837,^[71] opposition to slavery gradually increased in the next few decades.^[72][73] The works of abolitionists contributed to subsequent actions of the state during the Civil War. Massachusetts was the first state to recruit, train, and arm a Black regiment with White officers, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.^[74] The Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston Common contains a relief depicting the 54th regiment.^[75]

20th century[link]

Part of the "Big Dig" construction project; this portion is over the Charles River.

The industrial economy began a decline in the early 20th century with the exodus of many manufacturing companies. By the 1920s competition from the South and Midwest, followed by the Great Depression, led to the collapse of the three main industries in Massachusetts: textiles, shoemaking, and mechanized transportation.^[76] This decline would continue into the latter half of the century; between 1950 and 1979, the number of Bay Staters involved in textile manufacturing declined from 264,000 to 63,000.^[77] This spurred an exodus of high-paying jobs from Western Massachusetts, which suffered greatly as it de-industrialized during the last 40 years of the 20th century.^[78] In Eastern Massachusetts, following World War II, the economy was transformed from one based on heavy industry into a service and high-tech based economy.^[79] Government contracts, private investment, and research facilities led to a new and improved industrial climate, with reduced unemployment and increased per capita income. Suburbanization flourished, and by the 1970s, the Route 128 corridor was dotted with high-technology companies who recruited graduates of the area's many elite institutions of higher education.^[80]

The Kennedy family was prominent in Massachusetts politics in the 20th century. Children of businessman and ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. included John F. Kennedy, who was a senator and US president before his assassination in 1963, Robert F. Kennedy, who was a senator, US attorney general and presidential candidate before his assassination in 1968, Ted Kennedy, a senator from 1962 until his death in 2009,^[81] and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a co-founder of the Special Olympics.^[82] The famous Kennedy Compound is located at Hyannisport on Cape Cod.^[83]